Wild Card
by SunlitStars
Summary: Okay, so I've managed to wrap my head around the fact that I've been catapulted into my nerdy neighbor's favorite anime. What I can't understand is why I have to be a cat. I mean, I don't even like cats. ... I hate irony.
1. The End, or is it the Begining?

_Beep...beep...beep..._

"How is she doing?"

"It's not looking too good. She has a little-known heart disease. I'm sorry, but we have no ways to fix it. She has three days to live."

_Beep...beep...beep..._

Those words... they- they should mean something shouldn't they? I am going to die. Death... I should be afraid. But I'm not, just sad. Three days... I suddenly remembered a conversation I had had with my friend... so long ago it now seems...

_"Haru-chan, if you only had a week to live, what would you do?"_

_ "I don't know, I guess I would do everything I had wanted to do, ever."_

_ "Yeah, me too."_

What a cruel twist of Fate. Only I had three days, not an entire week. _Do everything I had wanted to do_. Of course, my perspective had changed over the past couple years. After losing my only friend, Sorano to a different city, and then moving myself, I had become a different person.

Where laughter and happiness once resided, now loneliness and cynical sarcasm take up space. I became the lone wolf in every sense of the term. I had no friends, and now no one cared that I was dying. Dying. _Do everything I had wanted to do_. Suddenly, I felt sure of myself.

"Nurse, please get me a phone."

"But Miss-"

"I need a phone. I am going to call my father and give him a piece of my mind."

"I am not sure if that-"

"If I'm going to die, I need to talk to him."

She hesitated, then walked briskly out the door to, hopefully, get me a phone.

"Here you are, try not to stress yourself too much. I'll be on the other side of the door, okay?"

I took the phone, and dialed the number I had never even touched before. I held the phone up to my ear.

_ Riiiing_

Butterflies. Why was I doing this?

_Riiiing_

What was I going to say?

_ Riiiing_

I would yell at him. I would feel better after that.

_ Riiiing_

He's probably not going to answer. I should hang up.

"Hello, who is this?" Of course, just when I decide to give up.

"Hello, this is Haruka."

"Haruka...?"

"I'm your freaking _daughter_!" Suddenly I was yelling at him. Shouting, screaming. Telling him what I thought about him, just like I had fantasized about doing millions of times.

"And they you _left us_, you walked out of our _lives_, you _destroyed us! _It's because of you that Mom's _dead_! And another thing-"

"I don't have time for this, I have to go to a meeting."

I sat still for a full second, stunned.

"Well I'm sorry.", my voice was full of acid, low and deadly. "I thought you would want to know that your daughter is lying in a hospital bed, dying. But if you have a meeting to go to, I'm sorry I wasted your time."

I hung up. Tears slid silently down my face, as I tried to tell myself I had done it. I had done what I had always wanted to do. I could die easy now. And with that last thought, I realized that I could. No one wanted me here, I could go. Go easy and free.

And I could be with Mom again...

_Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee..._

Everything was so hazy. White-or was it black?- crept around the edges of my eyes, so I could hardly see the nurse rush in, her face pale. I felt one moment of pity for her, when everything went dark.

…

…

…

I was nothing, feeling nothing, hardly more than an awareness. There were voices.

"-wasn't time for her to die."

"So what are you suggesting we do? We can't send her _back."_

"Yes, yes I know. But what about a different world? She can't reincarnate in hers, because she hasn't died peacefully. As far as I know, she isn't even dead at all."

"Yes, yes, it might work... but there are complications... oh! I see what you mean. Very clever. Yes, we shall do that immediately."

…

…

…

I was curled up in a tight little ball on what seemed to be a bed of dead leaves. What was I doing here? There was something before this, something important... it was so hard to remember... I had been in a hospital. Dying. Wait, what? Did that mean that this was Heaven? My eyes flew open as I tried to take a step forward. Instead, I landed flat on my face. _Hmm..._ I thought to the ground. _I thought Heaven wasn't supposed to hurt? Maybe Hell? But I thought Hell would hurt a lot more. And I'm pretty sure that Hell isn't supposed to be in a beautifully luscious forest._

Well, I won't learn anything with my nose ground into the dirt. I got unsteadily to my feet, and almost fell again. What stopped me was a huge hand. Grabbing me by the scruff of the neck. _Aaaahhhh! What's happening!_, I thought, or rather screamed, to myself as I swung through the air a hundred feet from the ground, my arms, legs, and tail swinging through empty air.

_What? Tail? What is this?_ I looked straight down, trying to focus on the unwelcome addition. I got sidetracked by my legs. They were all _wrong. _The knee jutted out backward, looking extremely painful. Silvery gray fur stood straight out, but that wasn't the most horrific thing. _Where are my feet?_ I thought panicking. They were-they were- _paws!_

I looked up to see a group of monstrously huge people staring at me. A girl with long blond hair marched toward the boy that was grasping me by the neck.

"Kiba, you put that cute kitten down right _now_!"

**AN: Thanks for reading this... if you did of course. If you just clicked on this story to scroll down and read the AN, well, I guess you're entitled to do whatever you want. Please tell me if you want me to write the next chapter. If you don't I understand. Thanks all! :)**


	2. Realizations

**AN: I just want to thank SnowSwan for being the _only_ person to review. Sheesh guys, all feeling lazy on a Thursday? Hopefully this new chapter will get you guys motivated, yeah!**

"Kiba, you put that cute kitten down right _now_!"

My captor just held me higher, giving me a better look into the clearing that he brought me to. Eight kids were arranged around, some chatting, and one or two were practicing martial arts moves. Now, however, all eyes were on me, the blond one, and the dog boy.

"Kiba! What are you going to do to the poor thing?" A girl with pastel pink hair down to her waist walked over and attempted to snatch me away. "Give him to me!"

The other girl fixed Pink-haired with a beady eye.

"Who says that it's _your_ cat, Forehead?"

"Well, I wouldn't let an adorable kitten go to an ugly person like you, Ino-pig!"

The one called Ino bristled and started shouting at the other one. In all truth, I didn't particularly like these girls. They looked like they wouldn't think twice about stuffing an "adorable" kitten in a doll dress and bonnet, like my neighbor's twin sisters.

I glanced up at the face of the boy who was almost strangling me. He had red triangles on his cheeks and shaggy brown hair. Worse, he stank like dogs. My nose twitched upwards in disgust as I decided to free myself at all costs. I twisted my head to the left, and brought my teensy tiny little baby teeth to bear on this huge monster. What really surprised me though, was that he actually let go.

"Meeeeewwww!" I cried as I fell about a hundred feet straight down. I hit the ground hard, but bounced right up again and started running towards the nearest shelter that wasn't blonde, pink, or smelled like dogs.

Unfortunately, I had never run on all fours before, and it was closer to a controlled fall than a run. I dived (more like face-planted) into a random lap and buried my face in their T-shirt. I hid there until the talking started up again, and the two girls had stopped fighting.

"Y-you can c-come out now, Kitten." I looked up to see the kind face of a young girl looking down at me. She had short dark hair that held hint of blue. Compassionate eyes the color of pearls held my attention. I was pretty sure that when people had eyes like that they were blind, but this girl's soft eyes told me that she could see perfectly fine.

I suddenly realized that the girl was talking to me, probably trying to get me to calm down.

"And the one who was h-holding you is Kiba. Don't worry, I wont let him or Akamaru hurt you. My o-other teammate is Shino. He is over by the edge of the c-clearing near the trees, wearing a high-collared white T-shirt. I don't r-really know him that well, he never really talks unless it's n-necessary."

I meowed and nodded at a rambunctious blonde boy who seemed slightly familiar. She looked slightly weirded out at my behavior, but answered anyway. I was slightly surprised to see a dark blush spread over her cheeks.

"O-oh, th-that's N-N-Naruto-_kun_" Awww, how cute... _wait what? _Naruto, as in the anime my nerdy neighbor was obsessed with? My head snapped up as I looked at the scene in the clearing with new eyes.

The emo kid by the fire is Sauske, the pink-hair is Sakura, Naruto, there's Shikamaru talking to Choji, Ino, Kiba... grrr he will totally pay..., Shino's there leaning on one of the trees, and that leaves only one person. I looked up at the young girl whose knee I was sitting on. Hinata.

"Okay kids, we should start heading back now. I'm sure you all want to get back to your training." Kakashi started walking toward us with that half-smile of his, and my mind went blank. This can't be happening, I must be dreaming. Yes, dreaming, that was it. This is just some horrible nightmare, and I would wake up in my bed, get ready for school, and be completely ignored the entire day. I never said it was a good life, but it was my life, and at least I knew what was going to happen. I laid my head down on my crossed paws as the events of the day caught up with me.

I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew I was in a backpack. I scrambled up and out of the pack to perch on Hinata's shoulder as we landed in front of Konoha's gates. Wow, Konoha. It's all so real when I'm actually seeing it. I stared around me as all the Genin started heading home. I was so absorbed, I hardly noticed Hinata walking towards Shino.

"Sh-Shino, could y-you, that is, c-could I, um I mean..." I looked quickly at her to see what was wrong. "Sh-Shino could... could you keep my kitten until I can find a home for it?" she said the last part in a rush of words and looked toward the silent nin hopefully.

"Sorry Hinata, my father doesn't like cats." his emotionless voice sent shivers down my fur as he turned to walk away. He must have seen or sensed Hinata's crushed expression because he called over his shoulder, "Maybe someone else will."

Dusk was settling over the silent village as Hinata walked over to the little park and gently set me down in the plastic tunnel that led to the slide. She had asked every one of the Rookie Nine (except for my three tormentors from this morning), even Naruto, though I doubted whether he understood what she was saying due to all the stuttering.

"R-remember to stay up here, and m-make sure that a dog doesn't see you. I'll see you in the m-morning." she looked so worried about me that I looked straight in her pale lavender eyes and meowed reassuringly. She didn't need to worry about me, I would be fine. After all, hadn't I fought off a middle school bully using only my trombone case? Of course, I doubted whether or not that applied to me here, but I still had my spunky spirit to fight off the evil dogs! I curled up, expecting sleep to bring peace and my Hinata.

I woke up in the middle of the night, the cold breeze making my silver fur fluff up. My sensitive ears pricked as I heard the sounds of a dogfight up some distant alley. _Dumb dogs..._ I thought to myself as I tried to settle down again on the hard cold plastic.

I was starting to get worried that the fight wasn't going away. In fact, it seemed to be getting _nearer_. Suddenly the sound of the fight broke off quickly as the sound of running feet and panting were almost to the playground. A long howl rose over the sleepy town, soaring through the crisp night air.

I could see the shadow of the small dog running flat out towards what he mistook as an exit. The tiny puppy turned around sharply at the dead end to face his opponents. I looked quickly at the entrance of the playground, and saw what he was running from. Four long slinking shadows stalked toward the pup, the fur on their shoulders raised, giving them a feral, wild look.

"So, so, little one, I see you've run away only to be caught again." his voice dripped venom and dark humor. The rest of his pack laughed snarlingly and cornered the small off-white pup. Some unknown force brought me to my feet as I stared down at the scene unfolding before my eyes.

My paws itched to leap down and to punish the dogs for bullying the weak. I got as near as the lip of the tunnel before better judgment took over. I was roughly one fifteenth their size, minus the long yellow fangs. I was clearly no match for them.

But. But there was something as I watched the small puppy cower as the larger dogs closed in on him. That something pulled me forward off the lip of the tunnel, right smack into the middle of the circle of snarling salivating wolves.

**AN: Muhahaha! Cliff hanger! What will happen to our dear heroine next? The only way to find out is to review my dear readers! Same _cat_ time, same _cat_ channel.**


	3. Painful Rememberings

But. But there was something as I watched the small puppy cower as the larger dogs closed in on him. That something pulled me forward off the lip of the tunnel, right smack into the middle of the circle of snarling salivating wolves.

The wolves looked around in surprise as I practically dive-bombed into their pack.

"Heh, heh, hi there!" I looked nervously around at the huge monsters. I suddenly wondered what would happen if I died here... would I go back to my old world? Or would I be dead forever? _Okay, now's not the time to be worrying about that, Haruka_ I told myself.

"You are one seriously dumb-ass kitten." I heard someone mutter behind me.

"Oh, hey." I said nonchalantly to the brown and white puppy I was standing in front of. "I hope you have a good plan, cuz I got nothing."

He shook his head disbelievingly. "You don't have a plan? You're the one who jumped into this fight, not me. And anyway, I'm a nindog, I don't need help!"

"Huh, yeah. Cuz you totally screamed out 'I'm handling this' by the way you were running." I said sarcastically. He bristled and bared his teeth, but before he could say his wonderfully snappy retort, something interrupted him.

I don't know how long the clearing had been filled with the low growling, but suddenly the volume spiked.

"Kill them." the lead wolf said calmly as he took a step back. Urg, I hate self absorbed people like that. But more importantly, the wolves seemed to take him seriously.

"Well, it was nice knowing you." I said to the "nindog" behind me.

"I already told you! I. Don't. Need. Help!" he growled angrily at me. To prove his point, he launched himself at his nearest attacker.

"Idiot..." I muttered. Suddenly, I felt sharp cutting teeth snap around me as I was lifted into the air. Without even hesitating, I whipped around and sank my teeth into his soft nose while wildly clawing at his face.

He yelped and dropped me when something strange happened. Without conscious instruction from my head, my body landed gracefully and launched itself like a furry cannonball at my attacker. I parried his blows easily, while expertly shredding his left ear to pieces. He yelped and ran off with his tail between his legs as I turned around to see what trouble the pup had gotten into.

He had apparently knocked one of the wolves unconscious and hurt the other one in its hind leg. Now, however, he dangled by his tail from the lead wolf's grinning snarling mouth.

"Let him go!" my new found fighting skills did nothing to keep the quiver out of my voice.

He raised an eyebrow and said lazily, "And if I don't?"

For an answer, my legs gathered in a light coil to push me off the ground at my enemy. As I sailed through the air, I pinned my ears flat against my skull and bared my teeth in a hiss.

"Oooh, scary." he mocked me as he sent me flying with a swipe of his tail. I growled and tried again to no avail. What had my old neighbor called this? The boss level? Whatever he called this fight, it was hard.

I hesitated at my next move to think things over. Obviously, rushing head on is a bad idea. Once again, l leaped at him, feigning for his front leg, and changing mid-stride to his exposed neck. Surprised, he dropped the dog to the ground. With nothing hindering his mouth, he quickly slashed open my shoulder with his fangs.

I screamed as I fell back to earth, my shoulder pouring sickly sweet blood. The edges of my vision seemed to blur, to mist over... The last thing I remembered doing was looking down at my shoulder and seeing the ghostly white of my shoulder blade sticking like a tombstone out of the gash.

…

…

…

…

…

_My eyes opened to a scene I was very familiar with. I was standing outside my neighbor's house, the same house that I had spent so much time in. The same house that I had found my last friend in. I reached out to touch the peeling brown paint that we had painted there one summer. My lips turned up in a smile at the memory of us flinging the paint at each other and laughing._

_ I stiffened at the sound of someone calling my name._

_ "Haru-chan get over here! I totally got the new version of Call of Duty at Game Stop yesterday. Up for an all-night marathon to break it in?"_

_ I could hardly feel my legs moving as they slowly carried me along the familiar path to the living room._

_ It was unchanged. The ugly squashy brown couch was sitting exactly where it used to be. His sophisticated stereo set still looked as if it would try to blow itself up if I even tried to mess with it. It was all there, from the open pizza box on the coffee table to his bass clarinet case leaning against the wall. And then I looked at him._

_ His messy red hair fell into his emerald eyes like always as he laughed, waving his new video __game at me. This was the boy I had talked to all those times, the boy that I had practiced the new march with, the boy that had gotten ready with me and had freaked out with me at our first football game. He looked nothing like the last time I had seen him._

_ I remembered that day clearly, like it was burned into my mind. It had been a couple months since I had seen him. I remember gathering up my courage to go and try to talk to him. He had dropped out of band, and found himself a couple of new friends. He pierced his eyebrows and spiked his hair. Rumor had it that they smoked behind the gym after school. That was where I was headed._

_ I remember how our talk quickly turned into a shouting match as I told him what I thought about his new friends and his new life. I remember storming away telling him I would never talk to him again, and I never did. That was the day the hospital called me. His body had been found in an alleyway near the high school. He had overdosed on whatever drugs he had been taking at the time, and died. His sixteenth birthday was in a couple of weeks._

_ I remember waking up crying._

**AN: Hey guys! (dodges thrown tomatoes) hey, that wasn't nice. I only left you hanging from a huge cliffhanger for about three weeks... nothing to get angry about! Heh, heh. Anyway, I was sooooo busy you have no idea. This story will have to be postponed for a couple weeks until school ends, I'm so sorry! Okay, I have a question for you guys!**

** When in the Naruto world is this story so far?**

** PS how do you guys think I did on Akamaru? I hope I portrayed him correctly.**

** Love you forever,**

**SunlitStars**


	4. Shino's House

**Hey, so I was feeling kind of sad last chapter, so I made Haruka's neighbor die.**

The cool metal surface pressed into my side, sending shivers down my spine. Where was I? I seemed to be waking up not knowing where I was a little too often these days. My eyes opened blearily to survey my surroundings.

I seemed to be laying down on a fairly largish (of course, everything was big to me now) bright silver-colored metal table. Then the smells hit me. I actually covered my nose with my paws and whimpered.

The sharp biting smell of antiseptics mingled with the faint odor of air cleaner. Fear-scent and the sweetish stink of blood and death seemed to hang everywhere. What was most prevalent, however, was the heavy nose-clogging stench of dog. But that could be because I was sitting next to one.

"Oh, it's you." I spoke to him without so much as a hello.

"And..?" he looked at me sneeringly, then turned his head away. Dogs. Possibly the rudest beings on the planet.

I slowly took my paws away from my nose and gazed around me. Contrary to my first belief, I was not alone. Kiba was hovering protectively next to the dog, and Hinata was listening worriedly as the vet described my injury. What surprised me, however, was that Shino was here too.

He was his usual silent self, leaning against the wall the left of the door, taking in the scene. I tried to walk over to him, but something was restraining my leg. I glanced down in surprise to see bandages wrapped tightly around my right shoulder. Oh yeah. Well that wouldn't make walking any easier.

"You can take her home now. Remember to give her the medicine once a day for a week to prevent infection." Hinata scooped me up into her arms and walked out of the door into the street beyond.

"Shino!" Hinata called out to the silent genin. He turned around and waited for Hinata to catch up to him.

"S-Shino, c-could you please, please keep my kitten for me?" Hinata sounded close to tears. She stared at Shino, daring him to say no.

Instead of answering, he held out his hand. "As long as it stays quiet."

The walk back to Shino's house was quiet, but I could almost hear him silently contemplating the consequences of what he had just done. I pricked my ears forward, waiting for the first glimpse of his house.

It was a normal house, but as he opened the front door and started walking towards his room, I got the distinct impression that it was a bit _too _normal.

"Stay quiet." were his only words to me as he left the room. I hopped down from the bed and started exploring his sparsely furnished room. Besides the bed, there was only an ink-stained desk and a half-filled bookshelf. I wandered over to the bookshelf to see if there was anything worth reading.

Most of the books were dedicated to the Aburame's unique style of fighting, but a couple of them varied a little. One was guide to different bug and insect species, a couple were history books of Konoha, and one was a very battered and old copy of _The Shinobi's Guide: Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, and Genjutsu_. Aha! I quickly started tugging _The Guide_ out of the bookshelf and onto the floor.

I quickly scanned the first page. None of it made any sense, but I wasn't deterred. I just had to go find someone first.

"Meow, meow, meow." I told Shino when he got home for the day.

"Shut up, what do you want?" he stood looking down at me. I crossed over to the door and scratched at it, while giving him my pitiful puppy, err, kitten eyes. He stood staring at me impassively, when suddenly walked over to me.

Yes, he's going to let me outside and open the door! Wait, why is he picking me up? Why is he not opening the door for me? Shino crossed the small area, fluidly opened the window, and in a single motion, threw me out of his room.

"Hey! What was the big idea? Let me back in there, so I can teach you a lesson, buster!" I shouted at him. Of course, all he probably heard was meowing and hissing, but he seemed to get the idea.

"You wanted out." he said as he closed the window with a bang.

Great, just great, I snarled to myself. Well, I did have someone to find. I picked myself up and stiffly trotted down the dusty road.

I saw him just as he was leaving the forest.

"Hey, dog!" I shouted after him.

"What do you want?" he asked surlily. "And my name's Akamaru, stop calling me dog." he added.

I sat down and, without preamble, said "You owe me."

"How do I owe you?"

"I pretty much saved your life, or don't you remember?" I narrowed my green eyes at him.

"Trust a cat to need payment for a favor."

"Trust a dog to forget a debt."

We glared at each other for a while, when he suddenly sat back and asked, "Well, what is it, what do want me to do?"

"I want you to train me to be a nin-cat." he looked mildly surprised, so I added, "I need to be there for Hinata like you need to be there for Kiba. But I can't protect her if I'm a useless house-cat."

He thought for a while, then said in a rather businesslike voice, "Follow Shino to training tomorrow, and practice walking, jumping and running with the shoulder bandages." he turned away, and trotted after Kiba, who had stopped about a block away.

"What did she want?" I heard him ask Akamaru as they walked away.

I smiled slightly as I walked slowly back to Shino's house. He let me in the front door, and I quickly curled up under his bed to go to sleep for the night.


	5. TheFirstCatToWalkUpSidesOfTree!

"Surprise attaaack!"

A brown and white blur sped down from the trees on my right, the side of my injury. I quickly dodged the line of attack, using my superior speed to my advantage. Expecting my move however, as soon as my attacker's paws touched the ground he used the momentum to attack again almost immediately.

As he launched himself at me and, instead of dodging, I started running toward him to meet head on. At the last possible moment, I fell sideways. As he harmlessly rushed past me, my paw shot out and snagged his front leg, tripping him. Pressing his moment of weakness to my advantage, I pushed myself up with my hind legs and pounced on his unprotected back.

We struggled for a little bit, rolling around in the dirt, but I came out on top, with my sharp fangs digging in to his throat.

"Ha! That'll teach you to be cheeky with me, dog!" I gloated after letting him go and prancing away with my tail held high.

It had been a couple weeks since I had started training with Akamaru. So far, we hadn't started training with ninjutsu, but we were supposed to start chakra training today.

He glared at me, "Don't be so cocky. I let you win."

"Yeah right!"

He glared at me some more, but then sat down and pointed to a tree. "Climb it."

"Um, OK." I walked over to the tree, and leapt at the trunk, digging my claws in as I started to climb.

"Alright, good. Now this is how you use chakra to climb trees." he started to climb the nearest tree, but instead of climbing naturally, he started walking up the side like it was level ground.

"Whoa, how did you do that?" I asked, my eyes round.

"By concentrating the right amount of chakra in your paw pads, you will be able to stick to the tree. But too little or too much chakra will result in you falling off."

I blinked. "That seems difficult. Why can't I just climb it normally?"

"It's an exercise, just do it!" he ordered me, annoyed.

"Fine, fine, keep your britches on." I sat still at the base of the tree for a second, gathering chakra in my feet. They felt tingly, like when you sit still for too long and suddenly get up. Just as I placed my first pawstep on the tree, a voice floated past us.

"Haru-_chan_, where are you?"

"Heh, gotta run!" I bolted past Akamaru toward the sound of the voice, but not before I heard him telling me to practice.

"Mrow." I greeted Hinata at the edge of the forest.

"Hello, f-first we need to get you t-to the vet's. Come on."

Oh yeah, the veterinarian's. I was getting my shoulder checked out, but I like the idea of the possibility of an infected shoulder much better than a trip to the vet's.

A couple minutes later, and I walked out of the vet's office without the bandages on. It was a wonderful feeling, to have the fur ruffling in the breeze, but it came with a price. A thick, ropey, scar stretched down my right shoulder, defacing my perfect feline form.

"C-come on, H-Haru-_chan_, I th-think N-N-Naruto-_kun_ is c-coming back today."

Aha! That was why she was looking so nervous. Naruto was coming back from his mission in the Lands of Waves. We walked over to the gates, and I sat at the beginning (or end) of the village, staring out into the forest as Hinata hid behind a lamppost. Suddenly, I spotted them.

Naruto was strolling along with his hands behind his head, grinning like a crazy loon, which, essentially, he was. Sasuke was a little off to the side, just being the depressed emo-child he was. Sakura was alternately berating Naruto for messing up something she couldn't even dream of attempting, and following around Sasuke with lovey-dovey goo-goo eyes just because he's slightly attractive and has a brooding-hen face on all the time. Actually, I don't really mind Sasuke all that much. He's quiet where others are loud, and just sits in trees staring into the distance. Plus, he once threw me a piece of tuna, therefore gaining my eternal acceptance ('cuz it would take about an entire tuna fish to earn my approval).

"Meow!" I called out as I trotted over to Team 7.

"Hey, who are you?" said Naruto as he knelt down to stroke my head. "I don't think I've seen you around the village. Are you new here?"

Sasuke looked at me impassively. "It's that Aburame kid's cat, _dobe._"

"No it isn't, It looks totally different! And don't call me _dobe_!"

I walked away from the quickly escalating fight with new questions. Why had Naruto not recognized me? And did everyone think I was Shino's? On the way back to the forest, I stopped to look at my reflection in a puddle on the side of the road. What I saw shocked me.

I had grown since Kiba had found me in the forest all those weeks ago. My fur was very fine and medium-long in length, and it was the color of silver. And yet, it wasn't silver. Deep inside, the base coat was this shimmery blue, so when the sunlight struck me I shone with a light blue light surrounded in a halo of the purest silver. My gaze then turned into the most unusual pair of cat eyes I had ever seen. A fiery purple had replaced the usual kitten blue. They were narrow and slanted, and when I looked at even myself, I could see the unnatural intelligence in my gaze. I shook myself, and doing so, I realized I did not have the shape of the house cat anymore. I was wilder, with a distinct feral look to my long lanky legs and sharp fangs that slightly protruded past my lower lip.

I trotted off in the direction of Shino's house, slightly disturbed with my drastic change in appearance. I was the same on the inside, right? I was still the girl that only went to nerdy Band Parties, yelled at random strangers, and was the only female in the trombone section full of guys, right? Of course I was.

But I couldn't shake the feeling that I was changing. Into what, I don't know.

**AN: Hey all, things are starting to ramp up a bit, yeah? Anyway, please, _please, _PLEASE review. Please. Heh, now the word "please" sounds weird. Pleeaaase. Pleassse. Yeah, I know I'm weird. Oh yeah, and Haruka's band life is kind of based on my band life. While I have never beat someone up with my case (I wish), I _have _been to awkward Band Parties, told this random stranger I had seen him on another ride in Six Flags (and then told him I liked his accent), and I'm also the only girl in the Trombone Section. You probably don't care at all about my life, and just want me to update sooner, but I just thought I'd let you know. ^.^**

**Love,**

**Sunlit Stars**

**p.s. You like the chapter name, Starslight21?**


	6. Nin-cat

"Again!"

"Ha!"

"Again!"

"Ha!"

The sound of flesh and fur hitting wood was as normal to me now as the screech of a tuning clarinet and the moan of the bagpipes were to my old life.

"Ha!"

"Okay, that's enough."

I sighed and tottered over to the shade of the trees on weary paws before falling on my side and panting.

"Why are you always the one giving out orders when you don't do them yourself?" I groaned to my trainer.

"Because I already did this with Kiba!" he snapped.

I glared at the little brown-and-white dog sitting as cool and collected as a cucumber a couple feet away. The truth was, though, I needed the little nuisance. He was my only guide in a world dominated with a magic I could only guess at.

So I only mumbled under my breath, "Huh, I doubt that." before flicking my ears toward him as he started to speak.

"You are getting along very well with your chakra training, Haruka." He said, using his 'wise master' voice, "Yes, very well. I do believe you can be trained in actual ninjutsu now."

"Woo!" I shouted, jumping up and down, new power restored to my limbs.

"Shut up, I'm telling you how to do it!" he growled. "Okay, first you... um..."

"Tiger, Boar, Ox, Dog." I said, "That is, if you know how to do it."

I didn't think his eyes could have gotten more flinty without setting the trees on fire.

"Clone Jutsu: Tora-I-Ushi-Inu!" He shouted, his paws moving in a blur. There was a faint _poof_-ing noise, and a small white cloud engulfed the brown-and-white dog. The white smoke drifted away, leaving the dog looking exactly the same as before.

"Nice job." Ah, sarcasm, my second language.

"Shut up! It's hard doing jutsus without Kiba. And I'd like to see you do half as well!"

"Sounds like a challenge."

"It is!"

_Alright then._ I thought, focusing my chakra in my paws. I knew the signs and I knew the names, but so far I had not actually tried to do a jutsu. I looked down at my paws. And nearly screamed. Two ghostly insubstantial hands surrounded my paws. In almost a surreal way, I moved my paw-hands into the first sign, Tora, or Tiger. The hands moved seamlessly into a perfect sign, my pinkie and fourth finger folding over one another, the index and middle finger pointing straight up in the air.

"Tora, I, Ushi, Inu." I whispered, taking more time in between the seals than Akamaru did. Finally, my hands moved to the last sign, Inu, a flat hand placed over a clenched fist, and with my chakra twisting inside me, I was ready to unleash the jutsu. Right as someone called my name.

Yes, I could have completed the jutsu and then went to the voice, but the honest truth was that the hands that Akamaru apparently didn't seem to see, and the fact that performing that jutsu seemed almost _too_ easy, scared me, I stopped my chakra before it could burst out of me. I ran to the voice.

"Haruka." The voice was quiet, and, to the outside listener, dead. But I knew the speaker well enough to know that his voice was of one who is turning over the world, examining it, and gently shaking it at its corners. It belonged to Shino.

"Mrow." I told him as he bent down, offering me his shoulder to jump up onto.

"We're going to the weapons store."

"Mow?" the covered half of his face offered no answers.

"My father instructed me to take you there. He said that if you're going to be my nin-cat, then you will have to be treated as one. You remember our conversation." It was not a question.

_Yes, I do remember your conversation with your father._ I answered to myself. His father had walked into Shino's room unannounced, and looked at me. His eyes were cold and dark, and I remember felling a chill run along my spine. 'A cat.' I remember him saying, 'You did not tell me you have a cat.' 'No.' Shino replied. Shino's father just stood there, his hands in his pockets, staring at Shino, and Shino sitting cross-legged on the bed, staring back. The silent battle of wills continued for a full minute before Shino's father spoke. 'If it is to be your nin-cat, then you must treat it as one.' Then he left.

"So I am taking you to the weapons store." He walked with his smooth, long stride down the street. "Also..." He hesitated and glanced at me sideways. "The Chunin exams are coming up. In a week. People from other villages are already starting to turn up."

He stopped to look at another ninja with a strange symbol on his headband walk past in the opposite direction.

"The chunin exams." he started talking again, "The chunin exams are extremely dangerous, many people die each time it is hosted. But the question is..." Shino stopped and turned his head to look at me perched on his shoulder. "Will you accompany me on it?"

His eyes were as serious as ever, with a hint of sadness in them. He knew that if we entered, there was no guarantee that we would come out alive. No guarantee at all.

"I will come." All he could hear was a meow or two, but that was enough. Shino could always tell what I was saying.

"Good. You shall be my nin-cat."

Twenty minutes later I was standing on the dusty ground outside the weapons shop. I had a tight-fitting, black leather vest on that sucked close to my body but still allowed complete ease of movement. Pockets all over the vest held kunai knives, shuriken, explosive tags, and smoke bombs. My favourite, however, were the senbons. The small, sharp needles attracted my attention almost immediately and Shino bought me a basic pack of them, as well as five specially made senbon small enough to be hid in my mouth. The vest was made in such a way so that the tip of my tail could reach every pocket and its contents. I couldn't stop purring as I wound around Shino's legs, giving him my thanks in the only way I was able to.

**Hello, readers. Sorry I was gone for so long. I'm also sorry if I tweaked Shino a little for my own needs. But, yeah, I'm probably going to post another chapter later in the week, but don't hold me to it.**


	7. Nin-cat over here!

We were walking, Shino and I. I was on his shoulder, as usual. Everything was very normal, except the feeling of nerves in the air (coming mainly from me) and our destination. Shino had inquired at the weapon's shop in the curt, detached, way of his, and now held a slip of paper with a number on it.

Occasionally, I looked down at that slip of paper, the slip of paper that would change my life forever (yeah, I was being a bit overdramatic, but that's just who I am). I held the words "Rm# 134" on it, in scratchy hand-writing. And, quite suddenly, we were there.

After verifying it was the same room number as the one on the paper, Shino pushed open the door.

The first thought that crossed my mind? '_Boring_' Boring, boring, boring. A couple of fold up chairs and a plastic table/desk set up in the middle of the beige-walled room, that was all. Oh, and an over-smiley woman with _way_ too much bright red lipstick on behind the table-desk, and an intensly bored individual reading the news-paper in the corner.

Nutin' much.

"Hello! I assume you are here to register a Nin-animal? That is what people usually come here for!" The woman chirped, and then laughed that annoyingly high-pich overly-girly laugh that you hear in Pepsi and bubblegum commercials.

Unfortunatelyfor us, she wasn't daunted by Shino's deadpan half-face.

"Here is some paperwork I need you to fill out, okay? Just your name, family name, Shinobi Class, and if you are intending to attend the Chunin Exams." After she said all this, her mouth stretched into an impossibly wide, painful-looking smile.

Shino signed the forms, yada yada, and then the crazy-face lady said those horrible words. "Time for your Nin-animal's physical exam!"

What.

After a horribly mind-scarring experience of which I will not go into details, the witch-woman released me from her clutches.

"Now, what type of jutsu does you Nin-animal specialize in, if any?" She asked Shino, suddenly buisness-like.

"Genjutsu." I had disscussed matters with Akamaru, and had decided that genjutsu really _was_ my forte.

"Interesting." was all th evil lipstick-lady had to offer on the subject. "Assistant," she called, "Time to actually work for your pay!"

The news-paper guy gumbled and got up, laying his newspaper on his vacated seat.

"Now, Mr. Aburame, please command your Nin-animal to place my assistant under a Genjutsu."

Shino glanced down at me and nodded. That was all the assent I needed.

Genjutsu targets the brain. Or, really, the chakra flow to the brian. I basicially override the opponent's chakra flow with my chakra, and hijack his brain. Like a pirate. Sort of. Okay, not really. But still, chakra, brain. That's the basic idea. And it's a lot more complicated than it sounds.

"Here goes nothing." I muttered to myself. "_Tora, Mi, Hitsuji!_" I said, and created the hand seals for Tiger, Snake, and Ram. "Shadow Genjutsu!"

Chakra rushed from the pale blue ghost-like hands that still creepily surrounded my paws whenever I created a jutsu. I half-closed my eyes and I could sense my chakra rushing into my opponent's body, quickly heading for the major chakra vein in the stem of the brain.

I could tell immidiately when the genjutsu was complete. Not only did I feel that his brain was under my control, but my victim's eyes suddenly unfocused. I knew what he was seeing. Everything had gone grayscale, and anything with a heartbeat was turned into a dark mass of undulating shadows, except for the eyes. The eyes I kept, only turned them a shade of flaming red. I thought it was a nice touch.

"Very good. Now please command your Nin-animal to release the genjutsu."

"Haruka." As soon as Shino spoke to me, I released the jutsu, even though it was great fun to mess with people's minds.

"Now, would you please ahve your Nin-animal fight my assistant. Without your assistance, please."

Another nod.

"MEROUGH!" I screech-roared as I launched myself off the plastic table-desk and right at news-paper guy.

He dodged, and I flew over his left shoulder, and stuck to the opposite wall. Two kunai stuck quivering into the wall where my head had been, but I was gone. Aiming for his stomach, I was relying on the fact that he would jusp to dodge instead of just moving out of the way.

He did both. Leaping off to the right and up, the only place I could stick the explosive tag with my tail was his left foot. So, when I reached the opposite corner of the ceiling, it only blew his shoe off and burned his foot rather than taking off his leg. He spun around, shuriken ready, to find and empty ceiling. Or so he thought.

One of my newly acquired tricks for my trick bag (as I called it) was camoflauge. I would coat each strand of fur with a thin coating of chakra, and I could control which color it was. The ceiling was easy, it wasn't like a multi-colored forest; just a solid beige color.

I could feel my chakra supply draining, though, so I pooled some chakra into the tip of my tail and carefully picked out a smoke bomb from my vest of goodies. I flicked my tail, sending the little paper wrapped ball towards my opponent. A cloud of smoke filled the room, and I used that opportunity to flick five senbon towards newspaper guy. Once the smoke cleared, it was made apparent that all five senbon were clustered in my victim's neck, right above a vulnerable spot. One inch downwards, and it would have, if not killed him, then given him severe blood loss.

Yeah, I was proud of myself.

In fact, I was even purring as I undid the camoflauge and jumpen onto Shino's shoulder. As the creeper desk lady was telling her assistant to go the the hospital and tell them he was beated up by a cat, I placed my paw on Shino's cheek and quickly placed him under a light genjutsu.

Once I had figured out how to, genjutsu was how I communicated with him, with pictures. Right now, I was showing Shino an amusing sequence of chibi drawings featuring newspaper guy getting his legs blown up, needles sticking out of his neck and blood pouring to the floor, etc,. I only lifted it when lipstick-chick spoke to him.

"That was very well done." Her tone implied the words '_for a cat_' at the end. "Okay, just sign here, and place your Nin-animal's paw- or hoof- or fin-print right here."

Shino signed, and I enjoyed placing my right front paw in the ink and stamping the paper as well as many portions of her desk.

She glared at me before handing Shino a small, dark blue Konoha headband.

Aww yeaaahh! Let's bust this popsicle stand! Or whatever you young'uns say these days.

We were out of that weirdo's office and out of her life forever! Yesss! Freedom! Air! A shiny new headband!

"Haruka. Where do you want this? It seems too large for an actual headband."

I jumped up on his shoulder and gave him an image of me wearing the headband around my neck, with the metal bit resting on my chest.

Soon, I was strutting down the street, my new headband proudly displayed on my pushed out chest.

I flicked my ears forward interestedly as I heard raised voices coming from an alley. I slinked over there, but decided against using my camoflauge jutsu.

A tall boy with purple face-paint drawn all over his face was holding up a boy by his shirt/scarf.

"Stop that. You'll get yelled at later." said a dirty blonde with spikey pigtails and a permanant sneer on her face.

Pinky started whimpering out apologies, clearly sending out submissive signals. It was pathetic to watch, like a small puppy rolling on its back and crying to show it wasn't a threat.

Naruto, of course, acted out like anyone who had met him would expect: yelling out threats he couldn't keep.

"Let's play with them before the strict one comes around." said painted guy. I was getting a real creepy vibe off that one... He clenched his fist harder around the mini-idiot's scarf-shirt, who, like the mini-idiot he was, started kicking and whining. Dang, this was turning into a real drama. I should get some popcorn...

Painted guy muttered some threats, and apparantly that was too much for Naruto. He ran towards purple face.

I wicked grin appeared on th face of the painted guy. I quickly zeroed in on his odd finger movements right before Naruto flew backwards. Some kind of unspoken jutsu...? I tensed, waiting for some signal that would decide if it was too dangerous for me too stay. This fight had quickly gone beyond the scope of what I could handle without Shino.

"Leaf Village's Genin are weaker than I thought." the guy with the fierce purple face paint was saying.

The mini-idiot's gang of weirdos then took turns saying his name, as if that would somehow make it better.

"Hey! If you don't let go of him, I won't forgive you! You fool!" Naruto just reached new levels of stupidity. Erg, I actually face-palmed.

Pinky quickly got him in a headlock, nearly choking him to death.

"You're ticking me off." The painted guy said languidly. "I don't like little guys anyway. On top of that, you're a smart aleck for someone younger than me." He looked at Naruto threateningly. "Makes me want to break him."

The spikey pigtails girl sighed. "It's not on me."

"Well, after this little squirt, it's the little runt that won't shut up!"

Three things happened instantaneously. Painted guy drew back his fist to hit the kid (finally), Naruto ran towards them, and a pebble flew out of the sky.

All things stopped when the pebbel hit painted guy's wrist. Blood splattered out of the wound, he dropped the mini-idiot, and someone spoke.

"What do you think you're doing in someone else's village, you..." Sasuke. Of course.

And, as predicted, Pinky fan-girl freaked the hell out. Idiot.

Everyone looked at him, everyone muttered. The usual reaction to Sasuke showing off.

Painted guy even started to unwrap the freaky bundle at his back.

"Wait! You're not thinking of using Crow, are you?!"

And suddenly everything in my body was screaming. _Get away, get away! RUN!_ Fear locked me in place as I heard soft, deadly words whispered by a voice that I would always know.

"Kankuro, stop that."

I looked up, my eyes wide. He was there. Right there, in front of me.

Natsume.

_It was years ago._

_"Hey, Haruka, how do I look?" He grinned at me, looking ridiculous._

_"You look like an idiot." I said, leaning against his couch. "Why are you dressing up as _him_ anyway?"_

_"Oh, come on, Haruka! Gaara of the Desert is way cool!"_

_"No one is going to know who you are. Why are you dragging me along to this stupid Anime-Con anyway?"_

_"You promised! Besides it's going to be so much fun, you'll see." _

Oh, Natsume. I've finally found you.


	8. Goodbye

Natsume.

"_Hi. Uh, my name's Natsume. Welcome to the neighborhood!" He looked like an idiot, standing there on the steps all alone._

"_Thanks." My voice was monotone, I really didn't care. We, my mother and I, had been moving around a lot since my father left us. This place was just like all the others, we would be leaving soon._

But we had stayed... And then she died.

"_Hey. You're our new neighbor, right? What's wrong?" He sat down beside me, his face wrinkled into lines of concern. I didn't want to tell him... and so I didn't._

"_It's nothing..." I muttered. "Just a little home-sick." In a way, it was true. One of Mom's favourite sayings had been 'Home is where the heart is.' My heart was with Mom, buried under the ground._

Eventually, though, I began to live again. No matter how horrible the wound, it either heals, or you die. And I didn't die.

"_You, trombone freshman, go help the basses clean up." Erg, stupid upperclassmen..._

"_You're my new neighbor, right? I didn't quite catch your name the first time."_

"_Oh. It's Haruka." I was looking at him almost curiously, who was this guy, and why did he care?_

I even made friends... Or really, just one.

"_Oi, Natsume! Imma get you for that!" I yelled as I ran after him around the open field in my soaked clothes._

"_Yeah right, like you could out-run me!" He grinned, the dry summer wind blowing his wet red hair around._

"_Erg, you stupid-fast bass clarinet." I groaned, then flopped down on the ground. The little park's grass was yellowing and dry, but we really didn't care. No one looked after it, and so no one else came. It was like our own secret place._

_He sat down next to my lying form, and we looked up at the thin wispy clouds together._

"_Haruka?" he asked._

"_Mm?"_

"_Where... Where's your mom?"_

_My eyes never left the sky, but I could tell he was looking at me._

"_It's just that, the only time I saw her was when I welcomed you to the neighborhood."_

"_She died. She died a long time ago."_

"_Oh..." His face turned towards the sky again, and we stayed like that for a long time, me lying on my back with my arms under my head, and him sitting up cross-legged._

That was the only summer we had together, and the only full band season.

_The rain poured down out of the sky, it pounded on rooftops and cars... and on a lonely figure on the sidewalk._

"_Natsume... What's wrong? Are you okay?" I didn't have an umbrella, and so I couldn't keep him out of the rain like I wanted to. Instead, I sat down next to him and tried to endure his trials with him. But of course, one can only gain access to a heart with the owner's permission._

"_It's not really anything..."_

_I squeezed my eyes shut, trying not remember those words, phrased differently, yes, that had come out of my mouth at the beginning._

_But I did not walk away as Natsume had done, for we were strangers then. I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him into a hug. He cried on my shoulder, and told me what had happened._

_His parents divorced, his mom taking his sisters to another city far away._

He changed after that. I knew him for only a year, but seemed like all my life. We met freshman year, and he died a few weeks before his sixteenth birthday, my sophomore year.

"_Where's Natsume?" I asked his new section leader, a Tuba named Kitaa._

"_Didn't you hear? He quit band."_

I became increasingly worried as time wore on, and he changed. Natsume was no longer the fun-loving video game obsessed nerd he used to be. The question was, who had he become?

"_Nastume?" I turned the corner, and there he was. He had his back to the cement wall of the gym. My heart fluttered in my chest as he looked at me. His hair was messily spiked, his barely-there eyebrows pierced. He wore black skinny jeans and a baggy black T-shirt with the logo of some obscure metal band. His eyebrows pulled lower and his face showed the slightest fleeting expression of shock before resentment clouded his face._

"_What do _you_ want?" His eyes showed nothing but contempt for me, and hostility radiated off of him._

I don't remember what he said after that very well. I don't remember what I said, either. I do remember the phone call, though.

_Ring..._

_Ring..._

_Ring..._

"_All right, all right, I'm coming!" I yelled at the inanimate object._

"_Hello?"_

"_Hello. Is this Matsuoka Haruka? _

"_Yes...? Who is this?"_

"_This is the hospital. Do you know an Akiyama Natsume?"_

"_Yes. Is anything wrong?" Faint stirrings of panic rustled around in my stomach._

"_Yes. I am afraid so. Mr. Akiyama died a few minutes ago. I'm sorry."_

_I dropped the phone. It clattered to the linoleum, still on call._

"_Ms. Matsuoka? Ms. Matsuoka, are you alright?" I heard come squeakily from the phone._

"_Yes... I am all right..." I said shakily into the phone after picking it up. "How... How did you get this number?"_

"_Mr. Akiyama had you in his "emergency contacts". Is there something wrong with that?"_

_His emergency contacts... Did he still care, or did he just forget to remove me?_

"_No, everything is fine. Goodbye." I hung up before she could say anything._

_It was creeping up on me, the nothingness. Like an numbing mist, it washed over me. My mom would have called it shock._

**A.N: Hey guys... I know this is sudden, but I think I may stop this fanfiction. I won't erase it, just stop posting. Good news is (I guess) that I'm probably going to post a new fanfic. It is called "Ribbons" or something close to that. I probably won't post it (if ever) until a couple months from now. Sorry, I guess...**


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